Seated Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise

The pelvic floor muscle exercise strengthens your pelvic floor muscles, which support your pelvis and help you maintain continence.

Begin by sitting in a chair with good posture. Your feet should be flat on the floor and about hip width apart, and your hips and knees should both be at roughly 90 degree angles. Your shoulders should be directly above your hips. Make sure you are not slumping or rounding your mid or lower back.

Breathe in first. Breathe out as you gradually squeeze and lift your pelvic floor muscles as if you are trying to stop yourself from urinating. Hold this contraction for up to 10 seconds. If you are not initially able to hold the contraction for this long, just hold as long as you can before you feel the contraction weaken. Work your way up to a 10 second hold.

• Do not hold your breath.
• Do not bear down.
• Do not ever practice this exercise while you are actually urinating.
• Saying “shhh” while performing this exercise can often help you recruit the correct muscles.
• If you have difficulty performing this exercise correctly, try the exercise lying down instead.
• When this exercise becomes easy to perform correctly 10 times with 10 second holds, you can progress to the standing position.